A new goal

[IamWill]

Hi TheEd,

I've done some proper training and raced a 15k in yesterday's Zevenheuvelenloop. I couldn't keep up with Kipkemboi and neither with Dibaba:o: , but I had a great race. I finished in 55:46 (3:43 min/km pace). My 5k and 10k splits were 18:59 and 37:52. I was a bit worried that I was going out to fast, but I kept on feeling in control throughout.

I was flying downhill and took it easy uphill: i.e. during the first 11k I passed the guys i was trying to keep up with downhill and they got back to me uphill and I followed again. However, my legs still felt fresh after the biggest hills in the course and I was able to speed up in the final 4 k of the race (which was almost fully going downhill).

Below the km splits from my Garmin. The splits might seem all over the place, but that's because of the hills.

km-sec-up-down-hr--hr-max
1--210-0--0----160-169
2--225-4--0----167-170
3--228-17-6----171-173
4--234-19-0----169-174
5--241-13-0----170-175
6--234-7--5----169-172
7--222-3--7----167-170
8--235-11-0----171-174
9--226-14-10---167-172
10-214-11-39---167-173
11-241-21-0----168-172
12-223-3--12---167-170
13-214-0--3----169-172
14-197-0--24---172-174
15-195-0--19---175-178

Now onwards and forwards to a PR on the 10k (don't know when) and a fast 21.1 (in January).

Cheers,

Will

[TheEd]

nice going Will .. hopefully all your running can go in the right direction

onwards and forwards

TheEd

[IamWill]

Thanks TheEd!
Starting a new cycle this week. What's the pace I should try for in the 5*2k session?

[TheEd]

for this week stick to the same pace as your previous 2k session for the first 2 x 2k then see if you able to increase the pace by 5 seconds per k

so start on 7.20 to 7.25 and if feeling OK speed up to 7.15 to 7.20

so 3.40 per k speeds up to 3.35 per k

looking forward to the feedback

TheEd
ps.. how's the baby cross-training going?

[IamWill]

Hi TheEd,

It's been a while since I posted here. After the 15k race I developed some knee pain, it took about a month and a half to get rid of it. I ran the Egmond half marathon in January: 1:24:32. I was very satisfied with that time, especially since it's a tough course (about 6.5k of of beach) and the minimal training I had done due to the knee pain. Most importantly: the knee pain stayed away.

Last two months I was abroad and did a lot of short runs on a tread mill (very few runs longer than 5k), strength work outs and quite a bit of swimming. I participated in NY's Scotland Run in Central Park about two weeks ago and ran 37:37 on the hilly 10k course.

I'm back in the Netherlands since about a week and a half, just in time for participating in a series of four 10k races organized by a local running club. I prepared with a 5*1 k in 3:33 pace and a session where I alternate 10 fast strides with 10 relaxed strides for about 5k. The continuous acceleration/deceleration in the 2nd session is pretty intense, but helps me deal with catching up with runners in front of me. Yesterday was the first race, I was lucky to latch on a decent group of club runners and kept up with (half of) them up to the last half k and finished in a PR of 36:16.

The splits according to my Garmin:
1 3:29.3
2 3:27.9
3 3:32.2
4 3:29.3
5 3:39.4 (head wind)
6 3:36.7
7 3:32.8
8 3:39.8 (slowly dying)
9 3:44.4
10 3:44.5
11 :22.0 (0,11k)

The course was properly measured, so probably my Garmin messed up a bit with the extra 110m (probably in the 2nd k). I have some work to do with pacing, since the 2nd half is considerably slower than the first half, that also might be because I mostly skipped my long runs the last couple of months:duh:

The next race will be on May 7. Any advice for preparing is much appreciated!

Will

[TheEd]

you look to be in good shape, you must reconsider that maybe both you and Albert take out of your system instead of building it, as you show you have natural ability

no harm in trying to slot a 5 x 2k and 6 x 1k session

TheEd
ps.. hope fatherhood is treating you well

[Albert83BCN]

Wow that's amazing, great result, congrats!! Glad to see you're doing great :great:

[IamWill]

thanks guys.

I'll try try to do a 5*2k next week, probably on Wed. What pace should I aim for? Start on 3:37 (my race pace for the past race) and try to work down to 3:30? Or take it a bit slower in order not to overdo it?

Besides that i'll do some easy runs of about 5-8k and a slightly longer run in the weekend.

My best,
Will

[TheEd]

spot on William .. and as mentioned, try to have a more relaxed approach to training and to get to the line feeling fresh and ready, and I am sure you will more probably get the results you seek

5 x 2k Rest 90 .. 10k session

6 x 1k Rest 60 .. 5k session

long run

with those 3 sessions done from Day 3 to Day 8 and hitting the targets, all you need do after that is roll down to the challenges and participate

on we go

TheEd

[IamWill]

Skipped the 2k session and did more 1k sessions instead as that seemed fitting to a more relaxed approach (the 2k sessions are sometimes too intense for me: I try to listen to my body, without being too easy for myself), also some shorter intervals. I ran a 36:46 10k beginning of May: it was warm and my shoelace got undone:duh:
Today however I managed a 35:31 10k, 45s less than my previous PB!! Weather was perfect (12 degrees C, not too much wind) and I could latch on to a very decent group. Managed to stay with the fastest of them up to 8k, the 9th k was tough (3:38), but I finished strong (3:31). What helped was 1) not thinking about (how far it still was to) the finish until the 9th k and 2) a focus on a strong but relaxed arm drive.

Now some recovery and then onwards to sub-35:great: